I've never had any problems with 70%, but the only reason I've been using that is cause that's what I had lying around in my house. If you're going to be buying anyways, go for the highest percentage you can

q-tips and 91% rubbing alcohol...get a 100+ pack of q-tips and a 1pt container of rubbing alcohol for less than 3 bucks at wal-mart, less than 5 bucks at local grocery stores, etc.

Wet one side of the q-tip with alc, remove as much goop as you can, get the rest with the dry side...repeat one more time till all goop is gone (usually only takes one-two passes), then run the 3rd q-tip dry both sides till no more black is removed from surface (if not lapped, if lapped, you'll always get black residue...just do it till you're bored lol!).

Hope that helps! My way might not be the best way or even considered "right" by some, but it's worked fine for years, I won't complain, my results have been just fine!

q-tips and 91% rubbing alcohol...get a 100+ pack of q-tips and a 1pt container of rubbing alcohol for less than 3 bucks at wal-mart, less than 5 bucks at local grocery stores, etc.

Wet one side of the q-tip with alc, remove as much goop as you can, get the rest with the dry side...repeat one more time till all goop is gone (usually only takes one-two passes), then run the 3rd q-tip dry both sides till no more black is removed from surface (if not lapped, if lapped, you'll always get black residue...just do it till you're bored lol!).

Hope that helps! My way might not be the best way or even considered "right" by some, but it's worked fine for years, I won't complain, my results have been just fine!

Click to expand...

nails it perfectly,

theres no problem getting the alcohol on the pins, its completely harmless once it has dried, and 70% will do the job too, just takes longer to dry and you might need more of it.

interesting, I've always seen black stuff on q-tips when cleaning cpu's, we're talking dozens of them AMD, Intel, coolers, etc...I don't see black stuff on the cpu/cooler itself..just when rubbing the cpu/cooler face dry with the dry q-tips. You'll really see it on lapped cpu's and copper base hsf's but aluminum does it too. Not a big deal as long as both seating surfaces are cleaned before fresh TIM is installed, it's all good!

not sure how many times I have to tell people not to use qtips...they're not lint free, they're made of cotton, only in extreme cases where you have to get in crevices is it worth using them
use anything lint free, I always use coffee filters, buy a huge pack really cheap and you're good for years
also other lint free things like microfiber cloths, and as others have said use the highest concentration alcohol you have around, preferably 91%, 70% is for antiseptic use